From: Jo Deurbrouck

Subject: a proposal to house hurricane victims Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="============_-1086436233==_ma============"

I sent this letter to the editor of my local newspaper today. Before I did, I called to ask if they would have accepted a letter from a resident of another city. They said probably not. So I can't send this to the newspaper in your city. But you can. If you think this could work, please write a letter or just revise this one to suit you and send it in to your newspaper. I talked with the Red Cross before I wrote it. The woman I spoke with told me, with some enthusiasm, that they have buses and cargo planes that can transport people. They have liability insurance and policies in place to protect everyone involved, and an infrastructure of volunteers that can manage a program like this. They are already operating temporary shelters in the region and some of those shelter residents will need homes long after the shelters wish they could shut down. In other words, this really can happen. I have talked with friends in the South who warn me of culture shock for folks coming from down there and for their hosts. I think that's a real concern, but I'm not sure culture shock can touch the shock of finding that yesterday you had a home and today you do not. My friends said that many of the people we'd take in would be poorer than we imagine, with priorities and lifestyles so different from ours we'd all have trouble understanding one another. I understand that concern as well, but I think that for every mishap that would grow out of the gulf between host and guest, there would be a success story. People make connections. It's what they do best as individuals (if not as groups).

My friend Nelaine says that the commitment could be spread out more than I've envisioned. She says she remembers as a child that her entire church sponsored one refugee family from Asia. The letter follows. No guilt on you if you don't think this is such a hot idea. I see huge weaknesses in it as well. But I think the right, energetic, inspired people (and there are some in every town) could overcome them and allow the rest of us to provide real relief to people who could sure use some right now.

My letter to the Post Register of Idaho Falls follows:

To the editor:

In World War II, the British government placed refugee families bombed out of their London homes into the homes of more fortunate countrymen. I don't know why that policy was implemented but I imagine the need was simply too great: there were not enough shelters to house all the displaced people, especially when the duration of their dislocation was uncertain. That is exactly the position this country is in now. And if you have a home as you read this, you are one of the more fortunate countrymen of Gulf Coast residents. Our children are starting school. Theirs are not. We sit down in front of our televisions and dinner tables each night and crawl into cozy beds to sleep. They sleep on cots in crowded shelters or pay daily for motel rooms, perhaps wondering how long they can afford to. If they are lucky. I call on the American Red Cross to sponsor a program to place individuals and families in private residences around the country, spearheaded by local Red Cross chapters. And I propose that we, the more fortunate countrymen of those hurricane victims, call our local Red Cross chapter and tell them that we want them to implement this service, and that we have room. Then email the idea to family and friends in other cities. Ask them to write to their newspapers.

Displaced individuals and families and donor families can be screened for basic compatibility. Perhaps some of the families being transported great distances (say, to Idaho) need to expect to relocate to the new locale. Donor families would commit to housing and feeding their guests for a set period of weeks or months, or for renewable periods. The Red Cross chapters commit to supporting the program beyond initial placement. If a dozen communities in each state welcome a dozen families each, the program would barely scratch the need that exists. But for the families so served, a new day would dawn. I have a spare bedroom. How about you?

Jo Deurbrouck, Idaho Falls

.... Dear Carol and Jo,

Yes, offering our homes to hurricane victims is an important aspect of the relief effort. For many hosts and refugees it will work. For many others it may result in unhappy incidents. I'll say a little more about this in a minute.

Jo, please check out the Katrina Villages Plan at http://loopcntr.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/EMERGENCY+KATRINA+VILLAGES

This is something to do IN ADDITION to opening our homes, not instead of. I am currently trying to set up the infrastructure needed to let us create Katrina Villages of 80 or fewer people in host communities around the country. I'm looking for about 50 key leaders with community organizing experience to get the project off the ground. Let me know what you think after you've spent 20 minutes exploring the site.

About taking people into your home - If the guest comes from a similar culture as the host (I'm talking culture here, not race or ethnicity)the arrangement often works well for many months. Witness the huge number of successful student exchange programs. However, if the newcomer arrives with a whole different assumption set about what's fair, what's right, who is entitled to what and what each person must do to get it, then it is very difficult to share a home. Further, few host families will have experience or skill in trauma counseling or helping folks to overcome a multigenerational victim mentality. The Katrina Villages may very well provide a higher standard of living than the residents enjoyed before being dislocated.

So yes, open your home. But for those who find homestay arrangements aren't working out and for people who can't find a homestay, the Village may be a better answer.

Thanks for all the work you are doing. Liza Loop

.....

From: Jo Deurbrouck mailto:jd77@earthlink.net Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 12:59 AM To: Liza Loop Subject: RE: a proposal to house hurricane victims

i hear you, liza. i think you have a great idea. small, functional communities willl beat all hell out of the culture of hopelessness that will develop in a place like the Houston Astrodome as November fades to forever. i admire your energy and vision.

good luck, jo

.....

Thanks, Jo. My good luck is composed of you and each person I can contact spreading the idea as widely as possible. The slower we are, the longer the Katrina victims will have to wait for a place from which to start rebuilding their lives. That waiting breeds bitterness and resentment. We haves will find that what looks like generosity today is in our own self-interest tomorrow.

Please feel free to list your offering of a bedroom on the Katrina Village site. http://loopcntr.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/EMERGENCY+KATRINA+VILLAGES

Sincerely, Liza